Tag: environmental groups

Who fiddled while Los Angeles Burned? A new layer in the blame sandwich of the Los Angeles fires: could smart meters have added to the fires?
15-03 Who Fiddled While L.A. Burned? Plus: Secondary Ignition Sources in Los Angeles Fires?

15-03 Who Fiddled While L.A. Burned? Plus: Secondary Ignition Sources in Los Angeles Fires?

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Show 15-03 Summary: This week we’re taking a look at the Los Angeles fires disaster.. And while the far-left Democrats’ environmental policies have gotten a lot of the focus, could there have been other mandates with the electric grid itself that could have amplified the problems? L.A.’s smart meters. Which have been known to cause fires. And even explode when exposed to water and fires. Smart meters were cited in the 2017 Northern California fires. And problems with them go back far earlier. But in the rush for green energy were bureaucrats too eager to look the other way?

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Air Dates: January 18th & 19th, 2025 | Guest: Dr. Bonner Cohen

Los Angeles Fires – What Happened and Why

It’s Climate Change. It’s Gavin Newsome. Or the Democrats. Or the Los Angeles mayor. It’s the fire hydrants. It’s the Santa Ana winds. Well, we definitely played a role. But wherever you look, there is plenty of blame to go around. And as we looked deeper into things, it turns out there could be yet another layer to the blame sandwich. Namely, smart meters. But we’ll come back around to that.

There has already been plenty of blame to go around. And well deserved. From Governor Gavin Newsom to the California far-left democrat supermajorities in the California legislatures to the Los Angeles mayor and water commissioners and fire chief. The list of who-should-be-blamed is lengthy. And that doesn’t even include arson or accidental fires.

And, no, Climate Change was not to blame. We’ve said it before: IF you truly believe that Global Warming is making the Earth hotter and drier, then you would do more forest management and not what the environmental left does. Which is almost nothing. And this is especially true in areas, like Los Angeles, which is an area known for its arid, dry conditions. The failure of the far left’s environmental policies — of get 100s of billions of Climate Change cash from the taxpayers and do nothing with it — was definitely front and center.

But was there yet another layer of Climate Change stupidity at fault? Los Angeles’s mandatory smart meters, as part of their green energy revolution.

Did Smart Meters Make Things Worse

This week we welcome back an internationally recognized expert on natural resources, energy, the environment, and property rights—Dr. Bonner Cohen. He is also a senior policy analyst at CFACT.

There are known problems with smart meters. Yes, they have caused fires. Tens of thousands of them across the country. Yes, they have design flaws. Yes, their lithium-ion batteries can get explosively hot — as much as 5,000°. Which is about 2,000 degrees hotter than the melting point of titanium.

Dr. Cohen knows all too well about the inherent fire dangers of lithium-ion batteries, having written an article just a year ago about their incredible fire hazards. Smart meters have lithium-ion batteries. If they catch fire, they can quickly accelerate to up to thousands of degrees and that heat can get into the homes. They have also been know to be susceptible to water and heat (like fires) and were believed to have played a role in the 2017 Northern California fires.

Smart meters are mandatory in Los Angeles. And they’re a part of the future of green energy—in part because they allow greater control over your usage of electricity.  Why? Because they connect wirelessly with the utility company, and can be both adjusted. And switched off. Could they have played a role in the 2025 Los Angeles fires?  We don’t know yet. For certain, it is a fact that smart meters have been involved in past fires. And we definitely know that no one will find anything if no one looks. And we know no one will look if no one asks questions.

There is so much to discuss and uncover about smart meters, that we will have to discuss them in more depth in a future show. Because we also know that if the Far Left democrats in California and Los Angeles get their way, the smart meters will be mandatory in the next Los Angeles.

Terrifying Possibilities for More Los Angeles Fires?

But perhaps the most troubling aspect of the so-called smart meters is that since they are remotely accessed, there’s a very real potential that they could be hacked. We already know the Chinese have hacked into U.S. systems and infrastructure. Imagine a scenario where hackers switch on and off smart meters until their lithium-ion batteries overheat and ignite. One house every other block and they could spread before fire crews could get them under control.

That’s potentially pretty terrifying.

Former CIA Director James Woolsey warned, “What they’re doing now, they’re constructing what they call a ‘Smart Grid.’ … [T[o make it easier for you and me to call our homes on our cell phone and turn down our air-conditioning on a hot afternoon if we’re not there. Great, but that may well mean that a hacker in Shanghai with his cell phone could do the same thing or worse. And a so-called “Smart Grid” that is as vulnerable as what we’ve got is not smart at all, it’s a really, really stupid grid.”

And as for those smart meters and their lithium-ion batteries that have been known to catch fire? After we spoke with Dr. Cohen, a massive fire broke out at the Moss Landing  Power Plant, the world’s largest maker or lithium-ion batteries. The fire was so bad and there was so much toxic smoke that the area had to be evacuated.

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Show Notes: Research, Links Mentioned & Additional Info

  • Be sure to visit CFACT.org. The Committee For A Constructive Tomorrow is a great organization with incredible experts on energy, the environment, and so much more. Like these articles about the Los Angeles fires:
  • The L.A. Wildfires Should Be a Wake-up Call (City Journal, Jan 10, 2025)
    • “Decades of fire suppression policies have left forests dangerously dense and overgrown”
  • Want to learn more about smart meters and their potential role in the Los Angeles Fires? We will have a dedicated page to these (there is a tremendous amount of pages we are still sorting through. But in the meantime, two good resources are:
  • The Discovery and Science of Smart Meter Fires — 2021 presentation (via Smart Meter Harm, July 4, 2024). A presentation by a fire scientist, an engineer, and a fire forensic scientist. The direct link to the PDF of the presentation is at this link.
  • Another study is “Overview: Fire and Electrical Hazards from ‘Smart’, Wireless, PLC, and Digital Utility Meters,” available as a PDF.
  • California government report on SCE Smart Meter program: Rising costs eliminate consumer savings (Smart Meter Harm, 2014)
  • Moss Landing Lithium-Ion Battery Plant Fire:

California Fires, Environmentalism, and Green Energy Related Articles

  • President Trump gets it on wind (CFACT, Jan 14, 2025),
  • The Saturation effect questions the prevailing narrative on CO2 (CFACT, Jan X, 2025)
  • GOP attacks on IRA can’t score a clean sweep in red states (CNBC, Jan 12, 2025); EV tax credit is ‘catastrophically stupid (CNBC, Dec 5, 2024)
    • “Newly elected Bernie Moreno, is targeting getting rid of the EV tax credit, clarifying that the $75 hundred dollar incentive is catastrophically stupid.”

 

13-42 Winds of War: Billions from Offshore Wind Farms – and Fighting Back

13-42 Winds of War: Billions from Offshore Wind Farms – and Fighting Back

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Show 13-42 Summary: Do you remember how environmentalists used to want to “save the whales”? And they were angry at “greedy corporations”? Now, those same environmentalists have figured out they can make billions from taxpayers by forcing states to take definitely-not-green offshore wind farms. Whales be damned. Calling it “green” doesn’t make it environmentally friendly. Calling it “saving the planet” doesn’t make it less greedy. This week, learn about the expensive, inefficient, and environmentally damaging wind farms the Biden administration is eager to shove down states’ throats. And how to fight back. Because right now, they’re trying to shove a windfarm off Oregon’s Southern Coast.

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Original Air Dates: October 21st & 22nd, 2023 | Guests: Craig Rucker & Jennifer Hamaker

This Week – The Lunacy of Wind Farms

It’s always easy to spend someone else’s money. Just ask any politician. It’s even easier to spend it if those billions (trillions!) you’re spending are going to people who will help re-elect you. Ever since I Spy Radio’s first year in 2011, we recognized that the environmental movement had become anti-development, anti-free-market, and decidedly anti-American.

It just so happens another organization got its own start with much the same realization: The Committee for a Constructive Tomorrow. Or CFACT. CFACT started back in 1985 and since then, they have grown into one of the most trusted, most respected sources of real information and real action to push back against the Far Left environmental movement. And win.

Right now, the Biden administration is giving out billions of free taxpayer dollars in a spending spree making the $130 billion (and counting) to Ukraine look like pocket money. Biden is shoving 100s of billions into wind farms. And, in particular, offshore wind farms.

CFACT on Offshore Windfarms

This week, we welcome Craig Rucker, the president and co-founder of CFACT, to talk about green energy, the billions the Left is making from it, and the billions of taxpayer dollars wasted on these offshore wind farms.

If you are not familiar with CFACT, you should be. Check out their great work, articles, videos, and a lot more on cfact.org.
And if you’re looking for good, reliable, and real facts about “green energy,” Global Warming, and more, be sure to visit CFACT’s Climate Depot.

It turns out these offshore wind farms are most definitely not environmentally friendly. On the East Coast, where there are already more than 3,000 wind farms spread out of 2.3 million acres. And since then, whales have been washing ashore, dead, in unprecedented numbers. Including the highly endangered Right Whale, of which there are less than 300 animals remaining. Why? Here’s a hint. It’s not Global Warming. The only thing that changed in their environment were these wind farms.

But what can we do to stop these? Especially here in Oregon, where greedy developers and government bureaucrats eager to spend 100s of billions of mandated taxpayer dollars have their sights on Oregon’s beautiful Southern Coast.

Tune in to hear how CFACT is successfully fighting back. And how the economics of “green” isn’t green when they start losing taxpayer subsidies.

Don’t miss: Conservation Nation’s (a CFACT project) video, “Save the Whales from Ocean Industrialization.”

Offshore Wind Farms off Oregon’s Southern Coast

The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management has targeted Oregon’s pristine Southern Coast for one of Biden’s costly offshore wind farms. We bring back Jennifer Hamaker, the president of Oregon Natural Resource Industries (or ONRI), to talk about this multi-billion-dollar windfarm project.

Jennifer, whose family on her dad’s side were commercial fishermen, talks to us what it’s like to grow up in a fishing family. What the way of life means to them. And how these offshore wind farms will endanger that way of life, the fish and birds and mammals in the sea, and the coastal communities.

And for what? A multi-billion-dollar wind farm that will only generate about 1.2 gigawatts of electricity. So greedy green companies can make billions, endangering the marine life environmentalists claim they want to protect, only to generate not even 10% of Coos Bay’s yearly electric? Really?

Help Stop Oregon’s Planned Offshore Wind Farm

ONRI is helping organize resistance to the offshore wind farm scheme. They have gotten the word out about public meetings. And are alerting people to get their public comments in to oppose this windfarm.

Screenshot public comment page for BOEM's offshore wind farm off Oregon's Coast
They kind of hide the comment button. (Click for full size.)

And it’s been working. There has been so much push back, especially at these public meetings, that the bureaucrats have pushed back the deadline for public comments until October 31, 2023.

Submit your public comments today about the planned offshore wind farm off Oregon’s coast. Go here for the main page to read the document if you’d like. Note that they kind of hide the comment button (see the picture before you head there). Or just go here to jump directly to the comment page.

Don’t be silent! Public outcry has been proven to stop these ugly, expensive, colossal taxpayer swindles. Skeptical? Then listen and learn.

The I Spy Radio Show Podcast Version

Trapped under a heavy object? Missed the show? Don’t worry—catch the podcast version. I Spy Radio is now available on your favorite platform, or you can grab it right here. See the full list of podcast options.

Research, Links Mentioned & Additional Info

Craig Rucker from CFACT (Segments 1–3)

  • Craig Rucker’s organization is The Committee For A Constructive Tomorrow or “CFACT.” Visit them at cfact.org.
  • Be sure to read Craig’s excellent op-ed in The Hill: “A New Study Zaps Biden’s Plan to Transform the Electrical Grid” (Craig Rucker, The Hill, October 3rd, 2023)
    • “The problem is not the addition of wind and solar. The problem is the subtraction of coal, gas and other dispatchable resources [that] we need during this transition…The grid has to have power being fed into it every second of every minute of every hour of every day to keep the lights on.”
  • Want good information to push back against Climate Change insanity and the cult of Global Warming? Then you definitely will want to go to Climate Depot, a project of CFACT.
  • Don’t miss: Conservation Nation (a CFACT project) video, ” Save the Whales from Ocean Industrialization.”
  • “Save the whales” CFACT boats protest offshore wind construction (CFACT.org, Rucker, July 25, 2023)
  • Green cannot survive without massive taxpayer dollars: “New York denies offshore wind developer request to raise rates, throwing more projects into doubt” (Just the News, Oct 13, 2023)
  • Bill Gates sees ‘a lot of climate exaggeration’ out there (Fortune, Sept 20, 2023)
  • Climate Activists Cutting, Burying Trees (Epoch Times, Oct 13, 2023)

Jennifer Hamaker on Oregon’s Offshore Wind Farm Scheme (Segments 4–6)